Dr Christina Cheng

Biography

Christina Cheng is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Global Health and Equity at the School of Health Sciences. Completing her PhD in February 2021, she also has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in health promotion. Her public health research experience included working as a part-time Associate Research Fellow at the Health Systems Improvement Unit, Centre for Population Health Research of Deakin University and casual Research Assistant at the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation of Monash University. Prior to turning her interest to public health, Christina had years of experience in marketing and communication.

In her master’s thesis, Christina examined the readability of online health information of Australian websites and found the information too difficult to read for average Australians. From there, she embarked on her PhD journey to find out how to bridge the digital divide to promote health equity in the age of digital health. Her work involved conducting a validity testing of the eHealth Literacy Questionnaire (eHLQ) using contemporary validity theory and advanced statistical methods. Her PhD study also applied the Ophelia (Optimising Health Literacy and Access) process to develop eHealth literacy profiles of community members. Using these profiles, she worked with community members and clinicians to co-design solutions to improve access and usage of health information and services for all community members.

Since joining the Centre for Global Health and Equity, she has been involved in the data analyses of various projects including BeatCOVID19Now, 'Developing Mental Health Literacy Responsiveness Education and Training' (New South Wales Mental Health Commission), 'Optimising Health and Wellbeing for People with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases' (Crohn's and Colitis Australia) and Ophelia Gippsland, as well as advising the New Zealand Government on data interpretation of the New Zealand National Health Survey. She has also been involved in the writing and editing of the World Health Organization report 'Health Literacy development for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases'.